Domestic carbonators are well known. These devices operate by dispensing or injecting pressurized carbon dioxide into a liquid that is contained in a bottle. The present invention seeks to improve known devices and methods of domestic carbonation by simplifying and automating aspects of the carbonation process, by sensing or obtaining key parameters in the carbonation process and by using information provided by the sensors and other inputs to provide enhanced performance, safety or ease of operation.
The engagement between cylinder of pressurized CO2 and the device that receives it is sometimes unstable or potentially unsafe.
Domestic carbonation devices generally lack the means of sensing the level of water or other liquid in the bottle that is to be carbonated. However, the water level in the bottle has an impact on the performance of the device.
Carbonation devices generally rely on replaceable pressurized cylinders of carbon dioxide. However, as the cylinder is depleted, the cylinder pressure drops. This drop in pressure over successive carbonation cycles can result in inconsistent carbonation results.
Domestic carbonation devices sometimes count the number of carbonation operations for the purpose of providing an indication of the remaining carbon dioxide in a replaceable cylinder. However, failure to reset the counter after a cylinder has been changed, or if the initial cylinder volume is input incorrectly into the device, misleading indications of remaining CO2 volume in the cylinder can cause the consumer to dispose of a cylinder that may actually have useful amounts of carbon dioxide remaining.
The solubility of the carbon dioxide in a liquid is proportional to the time under pressure and inversely proportional to the temperature. A typical domestic carbonation device does not adjust the carbonation time or pressure to compensate for the actual temperature of the liquid being carbonated. Accordingly, inconsistent or sub-optimal carbonation results are sometimes obtained.
Domestic carbonation devices generally lack any form of feedback or direct indication of the amount of carbon dioxide that has been injected into the water or other liquid. Because optimal carbonation requires the appropriate delivery of carbon dioxide injection into the liquid, inconsistent carbonation results are sometimes obtained.
Domestic carbonation devices are somewhat inflexible in the volume of CO2 gas that is delivered for injection into the bottle containing the liquid to be carbonated. In some devices, the smallest volume of gas that the device is able to dispense or deliver is sometimes more than is actually desired or required by the consumer.
When the liquid to be carbonated is flavoured or sweetened, inadvertent discharge of the liquid into the overflow or vent leading from the bottle comprises a contamination that has the potential to become mouldy over time.
The contents of PCT patent application PCT/AU2012/000636 are incorporated herein by referenced.